GK & Current Affairs Quiz: October 23, 2017

Notes:
India’s National field hockey team has won the 10th edition of Men’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament – 2017 by defeating Malaysia in the final by 2-1 at Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 22. India started strongly and scored first goal through Ramandeep Singh in the first quarter and the second goal was scored by Lalit in the second quarter. The victory came to India under massive pressure from Malaysia. Pakistan won the bronze medal after edging out Korea 6-3 in the third-fourth place play-off match. The winner of this tournament qualified for the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in India.

Notes:
Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar has clinched the 2017 Macao Open golf tournament title to bag his 8th Asian Tour title. As a result, Bhullar etched his name on the Macao Open trophy for the second time having previously won the event in 2012. It was also Bhullar’s third wire-to-wire victory of his career following the Macao Open 2012 and the Indonesia Open 2013. With this, he equalled Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa’s record of most wins (8) by an Indian on the Asian Tour.

Notes:
Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has won the 2017 Denmark Open Superseries Badminton trophy by defeating South Korea’s Lee Hyun-il in straight games 21-10, 21-5 on October 22 at Odense. With this, he bagged his third Super Series title of the year and 5th overall. It was the first time Srikanth and Lee had faced each other.

Notes:
The Ratapani Tiger Reserve (RTS) is located in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh and is spread around 823.84 sq. km. Some precipitous hills have cliffs; have large rock blocks and talus at the base. This unique feature provides shelter to various animals like vultures, reptiles and small mammals. The forest of Ratapani is dry deciduous and moist deciduous type, with teak as the main tree species. It is home to tiger, panther, wild dogs, hyena, jackal, fox, chital, sambhar, blue bull, four horned antelope, languor, rhesus monkey, etc.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched India’s first Roll On-Roll Off (Ro-Ro) ferry service between Ghogha in Bhavnagar district and Dahej in Bharuch district, which will facilitate vehicular and passenger ferry services across the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat. The Ghogha-Dahej Ferry Service will reduce the distance between the two coastal towns from 310 km by road to 30 km, saving time and money. The travel time will be cut by at least 5 hours. The ferry will be able to carry up to 100 vehicles (cars, buses and trucks) and 250 passengers between the two ports. The ro-ro ferry services are vessels made to carry wheeled cargo that are driven on and off the ferry on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle. The wheeled cargo includes cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars. This ferry service project cost stands at Rs 614 crore.

Notes:
The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) Tiruchi has recently signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Andhra Pradesh government to develop technologies relating to banana production. As per the agreement, NRCB will be the knowledge partner in developing technologies towards value chain management, supporting banana export, organic production and waste utilisation. It will provide training, human resource development and hand hold growers and entrepreneurs to promote indigenous and commercial varieties for domestic and export markets. NRCB is an institution under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Notes:
The 4th edition of ASEAN Defence Minister’s Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) meeting has started in Philippines from October 23, 2017.The purpose of the 2-day conference is to promote mutual trust and confidence between defence establishments through greater dialogue and transparency. The conference is also likely to discuss enhancing maritime security cooperation among the member countries. The Indian delegation will be lead by Union defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman. During her three-day stay, Ms Sitharaman is also likely to hold bilateral talks with her counterparts from a number of countries. The ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its eight dialogue partners to strengthen security and defence co-operation for peace, stability, and development in the region.

Notes:
India’s first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) for Skilling in Smart Cities has launched in New Delhi under Skill India Mission in collaboration with New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). It was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh along with Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan on October 23, 2017. The purpose of the centre is to provide skill training for unemployed youth through its Short-Term Training (STT) module and contribute to the capacity building of municipal employees through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program. The ministers also laid the foundation for a Skill Development Centre at Moti Bagh and a Centre of Excellence at Dharam Marg, New Delhi.

Notes:
Former IB Chief Dineshwar Sharma, a 1976 batch Kerala cadre IPS officer, has been appointed as the Government of India (GoI) special representative to hold sustained dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with all stakeholders. He will hold the position of a Cabinet Secretary. As an interlocutor, he will hold peace talks with Assam’s insurgent groups, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and will be free to decide whom to talk to. Sharma is retired as director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) on December 31, 2016.

Notes:
The World Development Information Day (WDID) is observed every year on October 24 to draw the attention of the world to development problems and the necessity of strengthening international cooperation to solve them.